One half of the most famous pair of sisters in the sporting world, Venus Williams rose from poverty to break open the world of women's tennis. That the sisters are inspirational is without doubt; the question is how to choose which one inspires most.

Brought up in the tough LA suburb of Compton, both smashed through a staggering amount of obstacles – the poverty they were born into and racism in tennis, not to mention the shooting of their sister in a gangland murder.

But while there is a debate over who is the better player, it was Venus who first took women's tennis to a new level with her power and 127mph serve, becoming the first black woman player of the modern era to make world no 1, in 2002 – and then reinvented herself as an entrepreneur. She was the inspiration for the younger girl's career ("I wanted to do everything just like Venus", Serena admitted), decided the pair should branch out from tennis into the fashion world, and battled for women to win equal prize money to the men at Wimbledon.Now, at the age of 30, she has five Wimbledon titles, seven grand slams, 43 WTA titles and three Olympic golds, as well as an interior-design company and a fashion line. Commentators watching the sisters have never found any bitterness between them. Serena insists they are a team: "To be a part of that is super cool. I mean, we're the Williams sisters, you know."